In another victory for moviegoing in North America, Minions jabbered its way an estimated $115.2 million debut to nab the second-biggest opening weekend of all time for an animated title, not accounting for inflation. And overseas, where it began rolling out two weekends ago, the family title also placed No. 1 with $124.3 million from 56 markets for a whopping foreign total of $280.5 million and early global cume of $395.7 million.
That includes a $46.2 million Friday domestically, the best opening day in history for an animated film. The victory is all the more sweet, considering Illumination Entertainment and Universal spent $74 million to make the Despicable Me prequel, a relatively modest number for an animated title.